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Parfums Vintage may have crossed the path of some of you as a perfume brand. Particularly their fragrance "Pinapple Vintage," which seems to be the best seller of the brand, enjoys great popularity, as it is a clone of the well-known "King" Creed Aventus. If Parfums Vintage is really keen on something, it is cloning or twisting Creed Aventus in all possible forms; that is their specialty. I personally own several testers from the brand across the range and have now been able to get an overview. By the way, this is my first comment on a fragrance from Parfums Vintage.

Personally, I also think it's great when brands sell samples on their website. Parfums Vintage is hardly accessible except through their website, maybe Souk or eBay. The samples make it much easier. I really like that the brand also offers packages with various samples, e.g. a Spring Collection, Winter Collection, or Aventus-inspired Collection (or something similar). The Emperor series from Parfums Vintage is, according to the manufacturer, the line that is supposed to be the most similar to Creed Aventus. Well, I found Pinapple Vintage quite good, so let's explore the Emperor series. What Parfums Vintage has done very well regarding the Aventus clones is a graphical representation of the composition of the individual fragrances, divided into the categories Pineapple/Apple, Smoke/Woods, and Vanilla/Musk. Along a color graphic, one can see in which direction all the clones move, whether they are fruitier, smokier, or sweeter. I find this orientation quite good, as the individual fragrance pyramids hardly differ at all... The color graphic can be found, for example, on Facebook at Parfums Vintage and possibly also on the website if you search a bit.

So what can Emperor Maximus (EM) do? Well, according to the color graphic, Emperor Maximus is the fruitiest clone with the least or very little smoke compared to the rest of the Emperor series. One can assume that Maximus represents the new batches of Aventus, which practically bring no smoke anymore but are only fruity, mainly citrusy. EM can indeed convey this very well. However, the problem I have is that the fragrance does not come across as high-quality in the top note. In fact, it is very zesty-citrusy, but at the same time very synthetic. The top note reminds me of the synthetic nature and smell of Armaf Club de Nuit Intense Man. It also has a very strong piercing bergamot and in the background, a grilled pineapple. The pineapple is also relatively weakly perceivable in EM. But what stands out immediately is the very weak, almost absent smoke, which represents that special Aventus character (apparently in the past, today somehow not anymore). Smoke is simply the nice kick that Emperor Maximus lacks. But if you know this color graphic, you are not surprised and know what you are getting into.

After the top note dissipates after a short time, the fragrance becomes softer, definitely softer than Club de Nuit, as the latter remains "hard" and smoky. EM becomes slightly floral, and I actually perceive a hint of rose. As it develops further, it becomes even softer and creamier, with vanilla and musk coming in and alternating nicely. The fragrance sits pleasantly on the skin, is not bothersome, and is enjoyable to sniff. However, the spark that would make me consider it a super fragrance just doesn't ignite for me. I would have thought it would smell more natural, but you don't get that with Emperor Maximus. The sillage is still quite good at first but decreases quickly, and the fragrance soon becomes very close to the skin. It's a pity, really, considering it costs 95 dollars and I was previously convinced by the brand. As an office fragrance, it definitely works; it is versatile but somehow lacks its potential. The longevity is around 5 hours and is not outstanding. At least it lasts significantly longer on my skin than the new Aventus batches...

Still, I would not buy Emperor Maximus blindly without having ordered the tester first. If you don't know what to expect, you can quickly become disappointed.

Violet Delirium - the literal translation of this exclusive 2020 release by Aaron Terrance Hughes would be Violet Confusion. In medicine, a delirium is a state of mental confusion, I have read. How this can be translated into a fragrance, I’ll leave to the perfumer :) At least I would translate it this way... The scent is a special that is currently only offered as a gift with orders over 150 British pounds on the website in April. I’m not exactly sure if and when this fragrance will be available for regular purchase. For 150 pounds, you get 10ml, for 200 pounds 50ml, and for 500 pounds 50ml of Violet Delirium and 50ml of Celestia. *End of subtle advertising*

Since I have long had the desire to finally try one of his fragrances, I didn’t want to miss this offer. By now, Aaron has become one of the most competent perfume YouTubers for me, an interesting personality with a lot of chemical background knowledge and a creative mind who creates his own fragrances. So I ordered Slut and Animalix (comments on those will follow soon) and received Violet Delirium as a bonus. However, Aaron hasn’t mentioned anything about this release regarding the note breakdown in any video so far, so I simply asked on Instagram. As a first response, I got from another user that this fragrance somewhat carries the DNA of Baccarat Rouge 540, combined with Aaron's signature dark, "dirty" notes, with rose and real oud. A slightly smoky sweetness to boot. I found that quite interesting, but my first experience with BR540 had left a rather negative impression. I tested the Extrait de Parfum of BR540 once (maybe too quickly) and couldn’t smell anything strange on my hand... except for a brief hint of spiciness. That was it, and I didn’t understand the hype around it. How closely it resembles it now, I don’t want to say exactly. I don’t know BR540 well enough.

What has Aaron Terrance Hughes done with this? In fact, I can't really perceive violet. Without having looked at the fragrance pyramid on Parfumo beforehand, I immediately noticed that there are parallels to BR540, at least in terms of the spiciness I still remembered. So the comparison from that user wasn’t bad at all. You can immediately sense Aaron's signature. He loves dark sexy notes, and earthy patchouli joins the mix right away. Still, the fragrance has a floral-powdery vibe. The exciting thing is that in the first minutes on my skin, it constantly fluctuates. Sometimes it’s a powdery lighter floral daytime scent - in the next seconds, it becomes a masculine dark evening scent for cooler days. I can actually imagine it being well-suited as an evening fragrance. It’s sexy, but it’s by no means "dirty" and intrusive. A little dirty, yes, but overall I think it’s more of a gentle fragrance, whose floral-earthy interplay is very pleasant in the nose. What I also notice is that the base notes have a clear touch of Animalix from his collection. By no means as brutally animalic, but definitely perceivable in a toned-down form.

Later, a slight smokiness joins in. After a few minutes, a gentle natural rose comes in from the background, waving a few times to draw attention to itself, pushing against the dark and earthy part with something floral. Patchouli isn’t listed here, but I perceive it. This patchouli, however, becomes creamier over time and turns into a chocolatey note. I read that Aaron likes to manipulate patchouli notes so that they evoke chocolate notes together with homemade cocoa tincture. He may have tried that here as well, and it has worked. Despite this slight chocolate, Violet Delirium is not a gourmand! So please don’t misunderstand that. The base is also too woody due to the oud.

The fragrance doesn’t seem particularly complex. However, the top and heart notes last a very long time. It takes a good 5 hours before the base gradually consumes the rest. For that long, the slightly powdery and creamy aspects are perceivable. The sillage is also strong but doesn’t devour everything around it. Of the three fragrances I have from Aaron so far, this one is even the most elegant. So it’s almost a shame that it might only be produced for a limited time.

Violet Delirium feels coherent and high-quality, Aaron's style is clearly recognizable, but it tends to be more masculine rather than unisex for me. Perhaps the name doesn’t quite live up to its promise (it could have been named something with "Noir," for example), but it’s not about the name, it’s about what’s inside. And I really like that.

Acqua di Gio Profumo (AdG) - currently ranked 30th among the most popular men's fragrances here at Parfumo. Surely not without reason, one might think, especially when considering the general popularity of this scent. Whether here in the forum, on YouTube, or Facebook - Profumo seems to be by far the most appreciated fragrance from the Acqua di Gio line by Armani among perfume lovers. As you can see here, a lot of comments have already been written. Interestingly, I haven't commented on this yet, but I have on the new AdG Profondo, which is inspired by Profumo. So now I’ll share my two cents, as I've had the scent for almost 2 years :D I owned the original Acqua di Gio many years ago. It was always an all-rounder freshie for me, nothing special but a scent that everyone likes and can particularly be worn casually on warmer days.

AdG Profumo elevates the original to a new level, first of all obviously with the fragrance concentration from Eau de Toilette to Parfum, secondly from a casual scent to one that appears significantly more elegant, and thirdly from a simple aquatic to a spicier, more complex fragrance. However, Profumo does not completely lose its original maritime AdG DNA, but rather reinforces it in a new, more mature, spicy direction. Fresh and spicy, you get this practically throughout the entire fragrance development. It remains quite linear and consistently synthetic, but in a fitting and really good way. Especially rosemary and sage can be identified. To be honest, I don’t really sense any frankincense. There’s not much more to say. The scent is very easy to understand due to its linearity. The nice thing is that the spiciness also contributes to Profumo being wearable not only on warm days but also on somewhat cooler days. Moreover, the versatility absolutely remains, whether casual or elegant, Profumo is a truly stylish fresh companion in leisure, the office, dates, etc. For me personally, it is even one of the few fresh scents that I would say also fits very well with a suit wearer. Basically, it works (almost) all the time.

However, Profumo is neither a longevity nor a sillage monster on my skin. Not even close. The scent is very quickly close to the skin for me. The weak sillage may also be due to the fact that it is a parfum and perhaps simply has less projection due to the lower alcohol content? I don’t know, but that would be my theory. Unfortunately, it only lasts about 5 hours at best on me. And it smells so good... It doesn’t make the inner CEO, who wants to be noticed, sit up and take notice for me.

In the end, I still have to say: "Yeah, it will always be part of my collection." And I certainly don't want to replace it with the new Profondo.

On festive days, I like to wear fancier perfumes. Do you too? Bond No.9 Bleecker Street is one of my newer acquisitions in my perfume collection and my third fragrance from the New York house. Bleecker Street is a staple in almost every Top 10 "Spring Fragrances" list on YouTube, consistently praised by fragrance YouTubers. So it’s clear that there’s a certain hype around it, and people are drawn to such a scent, which certainly leads to more sales.

Bleecker Street in New York is located in the Greenwich Village District of Manhattan and runs in an east-west direction. If you wander through Google Street View, you first discover a bunch of restaurants and cafes lining the street, and eventually, after crossing Broadway, you mainly find apartments along the road. Additionally, the nightlife scene there is said to be quite good, making it an area that invites going out in the evening. However, the fragrance pyramid of Bond No.9 Bleecker Street suggests that this is not an evening scent for going out, and indeed, it is not.

Unfortunately, I had to search for a long time for a perfumery that carries Bond fragrances. By chance, I finally stumbled upon Bond fragrances in Leipzig about 3 years ago and tried a few. First up: Bleecker Street. I absolutely had to test this one, as I only knew the fragrance pyramid and corresponding reviews. During my first testing, I was completely overwhelmed, especially by the juicy-sour blackcurrant in the top note, which lingered on the skin for quite a while. The longevity was also really impressive for a fresh scent. It was one of the first times I ever experienced niche perfumes. A few hours later, my thought was: This Bond could one day be the first Bond I buy - after all, the prices aren't exactly low.

However, last Easter Sunday, the Easter Bunny brought me different gifts, including a rum from Panama. What does that have to do with Bleecker Street? Nothing. Because I was already in possession of the scent and no longer depended on the Easter Bunny. A few weeks ago, Bleecker Street actually arrived in the mail for me. However, I didn’t touch the fragrance at first. I still remembered quite well what I had smelled, and I was looking forward to Easter, as Bleecker Street was supposed to be my SOTD for the first time on Easter Sunday.

I sprayed it on my neck and then again on my wrist, then let my nose dive deep into the blackcurrant and then.... Huh? What? Where did it go? I just sprayed Bleecker Street on my hand?! Honestly, I smelled absolutely nothing on my skin for the first 10-15 seconds. Very strange, because three years ago, the blackcurrant hit me full force. It’s actually the case that the scent hides at first and then very slowly emerges from its cover. And the blackcurrant is so weak that I can’t compare it to what I experienced back then. Alarm bells labeled "Reformulation" are going off in my head :-( I don’t know if that’s true, if the scent has been reformulated, but this doesn’t have much to do with my memories of before. The fragrance remains green and fresh, occasionally you pass by a bush of blackcurrants, but they appear pale. The whole thing is combined with a mossy-sweet base with a hint of fruit, which sets it apart from the "just-freshies" scents.

Unfortunately, my Bleecker Street bottle does not evoke the spring associations in me that I had after the first testing. It feels harmless, generic, interchangeable. Yes, the DNA is good, but it seems diluted. I wish it smelled like my memories - as it is, the disappointment is unfortunately great. I could easily give the scent a 9.0 or more because I know what it can or could do... but I unfortunately have to deduct points. My recommendation: don’t buy blind, but get a tester! Really a shame, Bleecker Street. You’re probably not the same anymore.

Being outside in the fresh air these past few days has been an absolute must. Enjoying the sun, soaking up Vitamin D3, strolling alone in the park or lying in the garden and thinking about a vacation that won't be happening anytime soon. Wearing the perfume John Varvatos Artisan Pure, and suddenly summer feels just within reach.

Artisan Pure embodies everything that makes it an all-rounder for summer: a white bottle adorned with light wood, the cloudy white color reminiscent of a Frozen Margarita, lemon, petitgrain. You feel like you're lying in the sun under a beach umbrella. Yes - the Frozen Margarita fits perfectly into this scene. It doesn't take much; in a simply crafted fragrance, everything is already there to evoke a summery atmosphere. Also: If a man were to star in a Raffaelo commercial, on that dream beach with palm trees in the background and vibrant blue water - that would be the scent he would wear. But that doesn't mean the fragrance needs coconut; that would certainly make it interesting, but no, it's not necessary here.

This simplicity makes Artisan Pure a linear scent that hardly changes at all. From start to finish, it's the same - lemon, petitgrain, a bit of wood, and a bit of soap. I’ll assume this soapy touch hints at iris, but it does come across as very artificial. However, I can't expect expensive natural iris oil at this price. By the way, petitgrain is derived from bitter oranges, specifically from the unripe fruits or the leaves. This gives a very zesty and sour impression at first, but it is by no means overpowering. Over time, during the drydown, white floral notes emerge, adding lightness and a bit of creaminess to the fragrance. However, this creaminess is not the same as what I find in Chanel Allure Homme Edition Blanche, but rather significantly weaker. I find it a little difficult to compare the two fragrances. Both are citrusy but in their own ways different. The citrus notes in Artisan Pure are noticeably more synthetic, but certainly not to be dismissed as "cleaning product." In Edition Blanche, the lemon feels of higher quality, and overall, it has more of a scent progression than Artisan Pure.

Still, this John Varvatos creation confuses me. I bought the fragrance about a year and a half ago and enjoyed that it had decent longevity. With fresh scents, this is certainly not a given. But these days, I am negatively surprised. Either I have perceived the scent completely wrong or I sprayed too little. Nowadays, it barely lasts over 4.5 hours on the skin, and the sillage is unfortunately very faint. So actually, the scent is quite safe on warm days. But if it could shine a bit more, it wouldn't hurt. I believe most people around me would like it. As it is, it's too shy, even though it doesn't need to be.

Be that as it may. Artisan Pure remains a solid addition to my spring/summer fragrances in my collection - at least for now. But we'll see if I buy it again when the bottle is empty. To be honest, I’m indifferent about that. Nevertheless: It evokes wanderlust in me, no matter where I go with it, and it feels good!